There’s nothing more satisfying than the rare moment when all the stars in all the skies align; when the bolt locks down in a single click and you tighten it fast with an expert twist of the ratchet; when the drive-thru attendant says, “That’ll be seven thirty-five, please,” and you reach in your pocket and fish out three dimes and five pennies on the first scoop; when you open your eyes and stare at the ceiling and say to yourself, “Damn, I sure took the golden path in life.”

None of those moments–or anything resembling them–happened to me today. They rarely do when you teach adolescents. They NEVER do when those same adolescents are scheduled to partake in a mandatory tornado drill in the middle of third period. And you’re dreaming if you think my lesson on latin roots, prefixes and suffixes did anything to change that fact.